The Blame Game: Is It Payroll or Inefficient Company Practices?

Payroll departments often receive the most blame when payment errors occur, even if the mistake was caused by incorrect data from outside the department, two industry experts said July 10.

Processing payroll requires certain data from employees and human resources, such as salary amounts and information provided in Forms W-4, Employee’s Withholding Certificate, said Joe Ranzau, Managing Director for Grant Thornton LLP. However, some of this information is provided by employees and human resources through the onboarding process, which is often outside the purview of a company’s payroll department.

“The number one and number two reason for payroll errors are ...